Last Chance Knit & Stitch by Hope Ramsay Read Free Book Online Page B

stole over his face. That smile hadn’t changed one bit. “What in the world are you doing with Junior?”
    The kid stopped squirming. Instead, Junior rested his head on Simon’s shoulder and played coy. Then he got distracted by the handkerchief in the pocket of Simon’s suit jacket.
    “I’m taking him off his mother’s hands for a while.He trashed the Knit & Stitch, and the girls have a meeting going on over there. I’ve been sent out for doughnuts. Zeph, how are you doing?”
    “Oh, I’m fine. Just the same as always. I heard about your daddy. I’m so sorry.”
    Simon looked up at The Kismet’s marquee. “So you’re working here. Doing carpentry?”
    “I am.”
    “Do you go hunting much?”
    “I do. And fishing. I built myself a little house out near the swamp. Near the governor’s place.”
    Junior dropped Simon’s handkerchief onto the sidewalk. “Uh-oh,” the toddler said, looking down at the object like a redheaded angel.
    Zeph picked up the handkerchief and handed it back to the baby.
    “Do the Raintrees ever go out there anymore?” Simon asked.
    Zeph shook his head and studied the concrete sidewalk. “No, sir, the old governor is long passed, and Gabe—well he’s famous now. Lives in Charleston.”
    Simon should have known better than to ask. Of course the Raintrees hadn’t come back. He’d even read one of Gabe’s novels a few years ago. It was too dark and violent for Simon.
    Suddenly all those happy memories turned gray. And the painful ones percolated to the top. He needed to get away from Zeph before they overwhelmed him. “Well, it’s nice to see you again, but I’ve got to get going. I’ve been sent on an errand, and you know how Mother can be. I’ll be here in Last Chance for a while settling Daddy’s estate.”
    Zeph nodded but didn’t look up. “It might be best if you didn’t come out to the Jonquil House or anywhere out that way.”
    Simon understood. The memories had to be painful for Zeph, too. So he nodded and headed on down the sidewalk.

CHAPTER
5
    A fter the Purly Girls meeting, Molly fired up Momma’s computer and took a look at the yarn shop’s profit and loss statement.
    Jeez Louise, Momma was doing much better with her business than she’d let anyone know. To hear Momma talk, the shop had been barely making a profit. But to Molly’s astonishment, the Knit & Stitch had been bringing in modest yet steady income for a long time. Further investigation of the accounting software revealed that Pat Canaday had been socking away the profits and living entirely on Daddy’s paycheck.
    On Friday afternoon, just three days before she left, Momma had taken a huge chunk of cash out of her money market account. With that much money in her pocket, she wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
    This discovery left Molly reeling. Maybe Momma hadn’t gone to see the world like she said. Maybe she’d taken all that cash and moved off to some other town and was planning to permanently set up shop there. Mollysuddenly missed her momma something fierce. Surely Momma wasn’t gone for good?
    She wasn’t going to cry over it. No, sir. The way Momma had slunk out of town had been hurtful and maybe just a little bit hypocritical. Momma talked a great line about being mindful and calm and collected, and all the while she was orchestrating her getaway. Well, running away didn’t seem like a very good way to deal with problems. And Momma running away made Molly hopping mad. So mad that she actually thought about hauling out that dumb book Momma had left for her and trying one of those one-minute meditations.
    But there was a silver lining in this disaster that Momma hadn’t fully thought through. The shop was earning enough to support an employee. Of course, that would eat into any profits Molly would pocket, but if she could hire someone to manage the store, then whatever was left over could be plowed into the Shelby, or maybe used to rent the Coca-Cola building. Maybe things were